NEWS & INSIGHTS
What’s Happening
Industry News
SKCR Events Calendar
Date Event Time Where Phone Mar 18 Board of Directors 9:30 am – 12:30 pm SKCR 425-974-1011 Mar 26 RPAC Wine & Spirits Auction 5 pm – 8:30 pm Bellevue Club 425-974-1011 Apr 2 Battle of Barristers 8:30 am – 12:30 pm Meydenbauer Center 425-974-1011 Apr 7 Gov’t Affairs Committee [..]
Industry News
News In Brief
Amazon expects to have at least 15,000 employees in Bellevue in the next few years as the company expands from its Seattle headquarters to tap a larger labor pool. The Seattle Times reported that would be more than a sevenfold increase from now and total about as many people as [..]
Industry News
Washington ranks 9th in number of community associations, with more growth expected
Washington state has an estimated 10,450 community associations encompassing more than 2.3 million residents, according to 2018-2019 National and State Statistical Review for Community Association Data, published by the Foundation for Community Association Research. That number puts it 9th among U.S. states. Continued growth is expected. Between 2,500 and 3,000 [..]
Monthly Market Update
Home Buyers in Western Washington “Hit the Ground Running” in January
KIRKLAND, Washington (February 6, 2020) – “All indicators point to a vigorous spring market,” suggested broker Dean Rebhuhn when reviewing just-released statistics from Northwest Multiple Listing Service. The report covering 23 counties shows pending sales outgained new listings, record-low inventory that’s down 33% from a year ago, and double-digit price [..]
Industry News
Microsoft adds $250 million to affordable housing initiative
Microsoft upped its commitment to its affordable housing initiative by another $250 million last month, bringing the total to $750 million since its initial announcement about a year ago. Concurrently, the tech giant announced $55 million in investments and grants towards its original $500 million commitment. The latest quarter-billion dollars [..]
Industry News
Northwest MLS by the numbers
Northwest Multiple Listing Service tallied 9,662,111 total logins during 2019, with an average of 16,381 average unique logins per day. Its Transaction Desk recorded 10,624,614 daily logins with 10,622 average unique logins each day. Those were among the statistics in the NWMLS 2019 year-end report. The MLS also reported a [..]
Industry News
News In Brief
Microsoft has allocated $380 million of its commitment, which it hopes will go toward creating and preserving about 6,500 affordable housing units in the Seattle metro area. Here’s a breakdown of where Microsoft has allocated the funds so far. Microsoft provided a $250 million line of credit to the Washington [..]
Industry News
Seattle among cities with toughest laws for home builders
Regulations imposed on homebuilders are generally getting worse across the country, and they’re driving home prices higher, according to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University. Their comparison of metropolitan areas ranked Seattle tied at #4 among cities with the most expansive zoning regulations. Researchers noted the cities [..]
Industry News
Latest Housing Trends Report has both good and bad news
The share of adults who are considering purchasing a home in the next 12 months fell to 11% in the fourth quarter of 2019, down from 13% reported for the same period of year ago. That decline marked the fifth consecutive year-over-year drop in the number of Americans intending to [..]
Industry News
State’s underproduction of housing has costly consequences
Washington state fell 225,000 units short of meeting its housing needs – and that’s just for the period from 2000-2005, according to a new report. That study was based on research by Up for Growth, a nonprofit coalition that produced 24 pages of findings titled Housing Underproduction in the U.S. [..]